Are you looking for a career you can feel passionate about? If you’re someone who likes to help others and wants to make that a regular part of your day-to-day, a job as a social worker might be perfect.
In this article, we’ll look at the core responsibilities of a social worker, as well as the skills you’ll need to be able to master the job. We’ll also guide you through the best path to take to qualify for and excel in the job.
What is a social worker?
A social worker is someone who helps support vulnerable people, working closely with them to find solutions to everyday problems faced during independent living, helping them with financial management, or even protecting them from abuse or harm.
While those you support will often be referred to as “clients”, the job itself is not a particularly corporate one. Your clients will most often be people like:
- The elderly
- Young children
- People with disabilities
- People with mental health issues
- People with substance abuse issues
- Asylum seekers and refugees
- Families at risk of breaking down
A social worker might specialise in a specific field, helping one particular group of people. It’s best to pick a field which you feel most comfortable with, as forming a strong bond with your client is one of the best ways to help them.
The responsibilities of a social worker
As you can imagine in a role that provides so much personal support to another individual, the responsibilities of a social worker are largely those which see you helping your client navigate day-to-day challenges and issues. Let’s take a look at some of the most important.
- Understanding and assessing your client. In order for you to best help your client, you’ll need to fully assess the exact kind of support they need. Look at their financial, professional, and domestic situations, and make sure to ask them where they think they need the biggest help. You will work together to work out what their most pressing needs are.
- Creating a plan of action. Once you have a better idea of where your time is required, you can go away and create a plan of action. Make sure to make the plan as flexible as possible. Their living situation or medical condition might make it tougher for them to stick to a rigid schedule. The plan needs to address the issue you and your client highlighted and provide a realistic way of overcoming or living with it.
- Researching and acquiring resources. A lot of the time you’ll probably need to turn to third parties to help your client. That could be things like food banks, employment agencies, charities, healthcare services, and even government loans and grants. It’s often your job to act as the go-between for your clients, helping them to find the resources they need.
- Monitor improvement and progress. One of the most important responsibilities of a social worker is to make sure your client’s situation is actually improving. Make sure to regularly check-in and monitor their progress. If it isn’t, speak to them about what further help they might need in order to achieve the goals you set together.
- Representing your client. If your client isn’t able to reach out and have their own voice heard, it falls to you to stand in as their advocate. This is most commonly done in more complex situations, where a person receiving social care may not have the capabilities to take care of themselves.
Skills you will need
In order to excel as a social worker, you’ll need to possess a blend of personal and professional skills. While there is no one-size-fits-all approach to helping people, there are core skills useful across numerous circumstances when working with those in need.
- Communication. You won’t only have to communicate with your client, but also with third parties. It’s important to enhance both your verbal and non-verbal communication skills – especially if the people you’re working with have issues communicating verbally themselves.
- Patience. No two clients are the same. Everyone has different abilities and capabilities when it comes to actioning advice and support you provide. That’s why it’s really important to have patience with them and continue to offer support even if they don’t seem to be taking it on board.
- Organisation. A social worker has to stay on top of their client’s schedule, as well as their own. As such, it’s really useful to have strong organisational skills. You’ll need to work out what needs should be prioritised, while also making sure clients attend meetings and scheduled appointments on time.
- Empathy. Being able to relate to and sympathise with your client is incredibly important as a social worker. You’ll often need to place yourself in someone else’s shoes and try to work out why they’re making decisions you might not always agree with. Having a firm grasp of their emotional state will also make it easier for you to help them.
- Critical thinking. This skill sees a person gather together information and make an informed and logical decision based on what’s being presented to them. In order to best help a client, this needs to be done without prejudice. Critical thinking is also really important when working out which resources are going to be best to help the people you’re supporting.
- Professionalism. While a lot of your role would ask for heightened personal and social skills to be needed, social workers still need to maintain a strong level of professionalism. You’re making a commitment to help and improve the lives of the people you support, so it’s vital you stick to a strong moral code of practice.
How to become a social worker
In order to become a social worker, you’ll need to earn a graduate qualification. That means you’ll need to be educated to a degree level to make it a full-time role. However, what that doesn’t mean is that you must go to university – there are other ways to get into the profession, usually through fast-track training programmes.
Some of the best ways to become a social worker are:
- University courses. Social Work has become a common course found across most of the UK for undergraduates. As with any uni degrees, entry requirements will vary between institutions. You’ll usually be able to specialise in one particular field as part of the modules you choose for your course.
- Postgraduate courses. If you wanted to spend the bulk of your time at uni studying something different, but ultimately are looking for a career in social services, it’s possible to transfer and do a postgraduate master’s programme. These courses tend to last an additional one to two years on top of a regular undergraduate degree.
- Apprenticeships. This is a good step for anyone looking to jump straight into the profession, without spending three years at university. These kinds of placements will often take just as long as a degree course and provide you with the equivalent qualifications at the end. You’ll miss out on the uni experience itself but will avoid accumulating extensive student debt.
- Specialised training programmes. These kinds of opportunities will often fast-track someone through a year or so of intensive training. Some might ask for a pre-existing degree, while others will let you join without the need for any pre-existing qualifications.
Are you thinking about a job as a social worker? Make sure to browse the current social service jobs available in your area.